#PascsoMath HII 5
Middle School Math: March
Never Give Up
Anyway, I started the Number Talk and in walked 5-6 strangers into the delicate ecosystem of sleepy sixth grades, a minefield of unfinished learning, rampit insecurity and various degrees of apathy. We’re in it now. So, hoping that I remembered the process correctly, I told the kids to close their books as I wrote one problem on the board. I reviewed the hand signal and began. 5 X 102 I asked for them to “Find the product mentally.” I waited for the signals. Few came. I called on one student and wrote his answer. I asked if anyone had gotten anything else. No one did. “Does everyone agree that 510 is correct? “Yes.” They were happy to appear to be getting it right. “How did you get that? What strategy did you use?” He offered the popular IDK Strategy, another student volunteered that she just worked it out in her head but got shy and wouldn’t explain what she meant, and another said he wrote it with his finger in the air. They told me the best way they knew how. I recorded it all the best I could and asked if anyone else thought of it differently.
One boy who sets very close to me, threw his arm up in enthusiasm and I hesitated to call on him. He rambles, gets lost in his own thoughts, and turns everything into a magical Disney drama. He was so persistent that I could not avoid him. So I called on him. He rambled, got lost in his own thoughts and turned the problem into a magical Disney drama. I responded, “O. K., you just hold on to that thought and we’ll see what other thoughts are out there…” Steering away, I pressed on to the next problem. 5 X 98 was not going any better because we were not seeing the connection between 100 +2 and 100 - 2. Not yet anyway. We were flatlining.
I wrote another problem. I asked the right questions and the kids responded as best they could. But we soon hit the wall. They were not offering any new strategies that I could springboard from and I was starting to sink. I felt like we had been at this for half an hour, momentum was dragging. Just as I was about to shut it down, feeling unsuccessful, my one boy jutted his arm in the air again. Reluctantly, and because I needed to buy time for ideas myself, I called on him again fearing that his comments might put the nail in the coffin of our lack luster performance.
But No!
Out of his mouth came the clearest, cohesive explanation of how “You could use rectangle boxes to multiply numbers, Ms. Bowman. You could break the numbers apart and put them on the sides of the boxes and multiply each part. It would be like finding area. Then you would just add them together.”
He nailed it! Where did that come from? Happy relief replaced disappointment as he saved the day. Several audible Awww’s were heard across the room and everyone listening knew, that he knew, and he had schooled us all! In that moment, his “speciality” made him brilliant and we were in awe and grateful for it. We ended on that note- assured and optimistic with a trajectory for what was coming.
The moral of the story. Never Give Up. Someone, many ones are out there listening and getting it and will use it when you least expect it! All kids can learn and do learn if given a chance.
Celina Bowman
Open Up Resources: A Typical Lesson
Open Up Resource supports in establishing student expectations by maintaining consistent structure for lessons. Each lesson is made up of 4 phases (Warm up, instructional activities, lesson synthesis, cool down). Each phase includes instructional routines that allow students to engage in the mathematics of the lesson.
Instructional Activities: Activities after the warm up but before lesson synthesis
THINK-PAIR-SHARE
What: Students have quiet time to think about a problem and work on it individually, and then time to share their response or their progress with a partner. Once these partner conversations have taken place, some partnerships are selected to share their thoughts with the class.
Where: Classroom activities
Why: This is a teaching routine useful in many contexts whose purpose is to give all students enough time to think about a prompt and form a response before they are expected to try to verbalize their thinking. First they have an opportunity to share their thinking in a low-stakes way with one partner, so that when they share with the class they can feel calm and confident, as well as say something meaningful that might advance everyone’s understanding. Additionally, the teacher has an opportunity to eavesdrop on the partner conversations so that she can purposefully select students to share with the class.
Math Competition
I want to thank you all for supporting Pasco students with the mathematics competition. Please review the information below as you work with teams to complete the competition videos.
Videos submitted can be filmed using a smartphone. There is no need to spend money or use expensive video equipment to participate. Take advantage of free video editing software programs (i.e. iMovie). Winners from previous years can be viewed here. Additional information about the competition can be found here.
· Submit your team’s video here no later than March 13th.
· Winners will be announced no later than April 1st.
Teacher Hii-Light: Nicole Sharkey
Nicole has a unique way of motivating her students without fear of humiliation. Students feel free to make mistakes without reservation. She strives to maintain positive relationships with all students and parents while still demanding a well run classroom with a positive atmosphere. When students get reprimanded and/or their parents are notified of a situation, students typically apologize profusely for the indiscretion as they have already created a positive working relationship with her. Students perform higher for her because she has created this atmosphere.
Teachers awarded Hii-Light Teacher receive a $25 gift card courtesy of the Pasco Education Foundation. Please nominate a teacher here.
Pasco's Vision of Instructional Excellence & Open Up Resources
Data Literacy
Assessment and Data Literacy
Have you ever wanted to compare your results on local assessments to the overall results of your school or the district? Have you ever wanted to view your results on local assessments by standards or some other item attribute?
If so, then the Comparative Results report in myProgress is the report for you! Many teachers say this resource is their favorite way to view their local assessment results by standard! Because of this, we want to make sure that all teachers are aware of this great resource!
The Comparative Results report combines student results across multiple assessments and compares these results by standards and item attributes, even down to an individual student level.
Visit the March edition of our Assessment and Data Literacy SharePoint page to learn more about the below questions with regard to the Comparative Results report.
· How well did my students perform on a specific standard?
· How well did my students perform on a specific item type? Item attribute?
· How well did a specific population of students perform on a standard/ item type?
· How well did my students perform compared to the cut levels set on the test?
· How well did my class perform compared with the school? With the district?
If you have questions about these topics or myProgress, please contact Amanda Phillips (x. 42340, aphillip@pasco.k12.fl.us).
SEL/Compassionate Schools
Did you know that those collaborative teaching strategies you’re using are helping your students build their relationship skills? CASEL identifies relationship skills as “the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed.” Students who are able to constructively navigate conflict and work in diverse groups are more likely to be successful in life. Here is a great video that digs deeper into the importance of building students’ relationship skills.
PD Input!
Looking ahead: Summer Learning 2020- Your Input is IMPORTANT
We are excited to offer Together We Learn 2020 Monday July 27-29th, 2020 at Land O Lakes High School. We have been busy planning logistics, but now it is time to dig into planning the learning and we need your input! Please take a moment to complete the enclosed PD Needs assessment as this helps us ensure that the summer learning symposium is built to meet YOUR needs. Thanks for your time!